Neil Lennon wasn't even at Celtic when Super Caley went Ballistic eleven years ago.
But "ballistic" seemed an appropriate word to describe the Northern Irishman on Wednesday night, as Celtic's title challenge took an almighty blow.
It was supposed to be so easy; the Hoops were in control of their destiny, one point behind Rangers but with a game in hand and a superior goal difference. They were in top form, with only one league defeat since November. None of their first choice eleven were missing. Meanwhile, as an Inverness fan, I feared the worst - the weekend had seen a timid defeat by Aberdeen, while two days later the club announced the impending departure of ten first team players at the end of the season. Logic dictated that morale would be low and, with little to play for other than pride, motivation would be hard to find. My pre-kickoff prediction was a repeat of the 5-0 thumping Rangers gave Motherwell at Fir Park four days earlier.
Which all goes to show that football is a funny old game. For Caley Thistle buzzed around the pitch like a swarm of hornets, as if they didn't have a care in the world. The 3-2 scoreline, in the end, did not tell the whole story; Celtic's second goal was a last gasp penalty, whilst Caley spurned two gilt-edged chances to extend the lead to 4-1. Centre-half Grant Munro, a local boy who has totted up more than 300 appearances for the club over more than a decade, smashed in a stunning left-footed strike for the second goal...the ultimate two-fingered salute to his manager for announcing only 48 hours before that Munro would not be getting a new contract. A hackneyed Hollywood scriptwriter would have ended the scoring after that, but five minutes later 20 year old forward Shane Sutherland slammed in a volley that nearly broke the far post on the way in to the net. For that goal, and in the build up to Caley's first half opener, Scotland's player of the year, Honduran full back Emilio Izaguirre, was conspicuous by his abysmal positioning.
Celtic's players by contrast looked nervous, disjointed and unhappy from start to finish, but that was nothing on their manager; Lennon is a one-man entertainment show all in himself, fidgeting on the touchline as if a ferret and a mongoose were holding a running battle in his trouser legs. Even the most blatant fouls by his own players would prompt an expletive-filled scream, the trademark snarl, a flapping of arms so frantic that you wouldn't have been surprised if he had risen into the air under his own power. The coup de grace came in the dying moments when Paddy McCourt flung himself to the ground in a desperate attempt to win a second penalty. The referee (a Mr O'Reilly...the jokes write themselves) was not conned, so Lennon ran onto the pitch himself, then turned around, skipped a few steps in a rather camp way (one poster on pie and bovril likened it to "Julian Clary taking a penalty"), then launched an almighty kick at a bunch of defenceless water bottles on the touchline.
Classy.
Though, in his "defence", the Celtic manager seemed to treat his own players with the contempt he saves for the rest of the universe - every misplaced pass was greeted with a bounce and a tantrum. Perhaps this is just the way he coaches. I suspect that, at times, his passion and will-to-win can be a superb motivating tool; it certainly explains why, despite the fact that Celtic lost the league cup final and now have a significant chance of missing out on the SPL title too, the Celtic support have given him messianic status.
But Wednesday evening in Inverness was a time for a cool head, not a hot one. Panic set in for the away side at 3-1 down; the last thing they needed was to look at the touchline and see a human volcano on the brink of exploding. And Lennon's curious decision to leave Georgios Samaras on the bench and replace Gary Hooper with the mediocre Daryl Murphy when chasing the game smacked of a man who was a bit desperate and not thinking completely clearly. It was the move of an inexperienced manager under pressure.
As it stands, Celtic might yet nick the title, but the odds are against them. And if Celtic end the season with only a Scottish Cup to show for it (assuming they do see off Motherwell), with no prospect of the Champions League next season, and having lost out for the title to a Rangers side that has been patchwork and down to the bare bones for months, despite having a vastly stronger squad, will Lennon still be as holy in the eyes of the Celtic faithful then? And does Dermot Desmond give him another year and another transfer budget?
L.
(The team of the year will be continued at some point, I promise!)
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